On Friday I went to a business lunch with a customer, and as expected I picked up the tab using my American Express Blue card. The surprise came that evening when I was looking for my card to make another purchase... gone! I immediately made the connection since the restaurant where we had lunch was the only credit card purchase I made all day.
Using the credit card receipt I called the restaurant and was reassured to discover that they did indeed find the card and that they would be holding it for me so I could pick it up the next day. Just to be sure that everything was honky-dory, I did called American Express to place a hold on the card until I could get it back. The American Express representative assured me that no other purchases were made using the card and placed a 24 hour hold on it. He told me that if I did not call back within the allotted 24 hour period, the card would be automatically cancelled and a replacement card would be sent to me immediately - the downside being that a new card number would thus be created, and I would need to make changes to all the places where my card number is currently used (iTunes, Quicken, Amazon etc.)
But, all's well that ends well. On Saturday afternoon I drove back to the restaurant and collected my card from the register where it was being held for safe keeping. It's not the first time that I had walked away from credit cards and ATM cards after making a transaction (but it's the first in several years). This typically happens to me when I am in the middle of an animated discussion with someone, talking on the phone or otherwise distracted. Apparently I am not very good at multitasking...
1 comment:
My father has started a habit of keeping his wallet out until he puts the card back in it to try to avoid forgetting it -- after having forgotten it several times, of course.
I just try to put the card away before closing out the receipt.
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